Pessebre Vivent de l'Espluga de Francolí L'Espluga de Francolí

The representations of the Living Nativity Scene of Francolí's Espluga are biannual and are represented every even year.

A trip back in time, to the origin of Christmas

InL'Espluga de Francolí, one of the Catalan towns that was a pioneer, in 1964, in beginning the representation of living nativity scenes, a static living nativity scene is currently represented - the only one in the regions of Tarragona of this style - of a biennial, with historical rigor and careful details.

It is an immersive tour where the visitor stops being an external spectator to integrate into the historical scenes, entering the houses and streets of the old medieval towns of Espluga Sobirana and Espluga Jussana, at the foot of what remains of the old castle, between the conglomerate rocks that form grottoes and cavities (esplugues) in the heart of the town. As if time had stopped, the extras remain frozen, like figures in a manger, pursuing a story that transports us to the first century Bethlehem, on the night of Hannukka, the festival of light, when Mary and Joseph search accommodation with difficulty.

The visitor takes a sensory and emotional journey into the kitchen and dining room of the hostel, into the depths of the cellar and the corral, into the embers of the bread oven and into the narrow streets that lead to the Roman camp, where Caesar Augustus has by edict summoned citizens to register in the census. It is on this cold night when some shepherds who watch over the flock in the open, as marked by the Hebrew tradition of Sukkot, at the end of the harvest, sleeping in palm huts, are surprised by a mysterious light. The houses of Bethlehem, the stables and the orchards open to the visitor in the streets of the old Templar and hospital town, where during the Middle Ages Christians and Jews lived together normally. Far from everything, in a stable attached to a cave, the visitor discovers an intimate scene full of love, like the birth of Jesus has never been seen before.

The second part of the tour, through the streets of l'Espluga de baix, recreates life in Nazareth days after the birth of the Messiah.

The streets are full of artisans and merchants of ceramics, wool and fabrics, roads and coopers, smiths and carpenters, while the women explain in the laundry what they have heard in the market: the Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord, has been born!! From afar, some strange travelers arrive, riding camels, while in the temple, the rabbis and the praying people review the prophecy of what is to come in the scriptures.

Tickets (with limited capacity and advance sale only) include discounts for visiting museum facilities in the area and packages are offered for groups.